SE Roadtrip Day 12 + 14: Nashville, TN, and Katy and Luke 2012

After the Smoky Mountains, we headed to Nashville, TN to spend some time with my friend from law school, Katy, and her fiance Luke. It was wonderful to spend Monday evening with them, especially after James went to bed.  Unfortunately, since we had suddenly crossed over to Central Time, James went to bed at what seemed like an hour later than usual. Luke made a really nice dinner for us. (A man who cooks well! Way to go, Katy!) And I got to hear the cute story of how Katy and Luke met. We kept chatting after dinner, and I was having such a good time that if it weren't a work night for them, I wouldn't have let them go to bed at all.

Fake group photo: Like, Wally, Katy, me, James staring at Katy(!), and Kevin

However, after a long day at work, Katy understandably declined a photo, so I asked for one of the Clous. Luke and Wally jumped in at the last minute.  Now I really wanted a group photo! Here's the thing, I have mad photoshop skills.  I try not to use them to create a different reality... but it's so tempting sometimes! I sat on the couch in Katy's camo-Snuggie, and then I photoshopped 3 photos: the group shot minus Katy, me in the camo-Snuggie, and then Katy's head off Facebook. I know I'm scary. In my defense, Katy thought it was funny and approved the photo before I posted it.

Wally and I go way back to 2005 or 2006. One of the sweetest dogs ever.

James trying to "feed" Wally but all he has are leaves.

Tuesday morning, after playing with Wally for a while, we were ready to see Nashville! We started with the somewhat touristy, but still fun downtown.  It seemed that it would be even more fun drinking and eating here at night or on the weekend, but that sort of thing is not possible with a 1-year-old in tow.

Downtown Nashville

Downtown with my boyfriend Elvis

Shopping at Ernest Tubb Record Shop- which is awesome (Kevin bought a coozie)

James checking out old concert posters at Hatch Show Print

After exploring the downtown a little more than James would have preferred, we headed to Centennial Park so that James could run around, but more to see the full-scale Parthenon re-creation that the people of Nashville decided to build in 1897.  Wow.  It certainly made for some fun photos.

The Clous in front of "the other" Parthenon

Rocking his Huntsville, AL shirt in Nashville, TN

On the run!

Playing with dad (I am seriously considering blowing this up.)

Katy and Luke recommended we try Loveless Cafe, so we went there for lunch.  Since part of the roadtrip is about eating a lot of Southern BBQ, we ordered our 6th BBQ of the trip.  Are we grossing you out?  Or are you fiery with jealousy? I am going to assume the latter.  The pulled pork sandwich was very good and stood up well in our taste-venture. It was huge, and the meat was tasty because they have they're own huge smokehouse on the premises.  The sauce was mostly on top of the meat instead of mixed in it.  I also order the grits (I think my 3rd grits of the trip) and they were my favorite of the trip so far. James was pretty good during the meal, but he definitely puked a little when we arrived because he's still not great at chewing his food before swallowing. Sigh.

Yum! at Loveless Cafe in Nashville, TN

Our next stop on the trip was Memphis, mainly to see Graceland, but also to eat more BBQ!  The problem is that we only travel a few hours at a time, and mainly while James is sleeping, because James hates the car, and Memphis is not close to anything.  So when we left Memphis on Thursday morning, we came back to Nashville. We thought we would check out the Grand Ole Opry, hich moved from the Ryman Auditorium to its new spot in 1974.  We were trying to avoid paying for a backstage tour (or for entry charges at other locations) so we decided we would go check out the free Grand Ole Opry Museum.  Unfortunately, it flooded in 2010, (ah, I remember Katy emailing us pictures of the flood waters near her job) and they never reopened it or updated the website.  I think 2 years is enough time to at least update the website! So this stop was a bust, but James didn't really care.  He played outside in the Grand Ole Opry grass.

In front of the Grand Ole Opry, where the Country Music Awards are held

James about to destroy the Grand Ole Opry garden

This photo came out a little blurry but I like it's weird Anime-like quality

Kevin tried to cheer me up after the mix-up by stopping at Mammoth Cave in Kentucky on the way to the Bourbon Trail.  I am a bit of an amateur spelunker after visiting Ruby Fall in Tennessee in 2009, and Luray Caverns in Virginia in 2010.  Double bust!  The cave only had hour-long and two-hours-long tours available on a schedule which would have had us waiting an hour for the shorter tour.  Not James-friendly at all. Oh well! Maybe another day. 

 In between Nashville stops we were in Memphis, TN, so I'll write about that next. After we left Nashville, we did the Kentucky bourbon trail. Yes, with a baby... don't worry, it was totally safe driving.  James was the designated driver since he can't drink for another 20 years.